'A Whirlpool of Imaginary Sounds' is an artistic research project inspired by 'gorghi d'artificio': ingenious combinatorial wheels designed in order to deconstruct, systematise and re-assemble forms and manifestations of Mannerist culture (c.1520 – c.1630). The project explores the production of knowledge and meaning through imaginary places, people, artefacts, histories and sound, legitimising falsification, fiction, imagination and forgery in the realm of historically informed practice. Polyphonic madrigals that never were are generated from algorithmic, yet playful, emergent systems aiming to transform our understanding of authorship, distributed agency, historical truth and the audience-performer relationship. Through the fictional 'Accademia degli Incompresi' – a daring group of heterodox thinkers from the 16th and early 17th century – 'A Whirlpool of Imaginary Sounds' aims to enhance and recontextualise their visionary work through artistic performance, game design and reenactment of the fruitful convivial environment of the European 'republic of letters'.
Promotors: Hannah Aelvoet, Bert De Munck, Bruno Forment
Update: January 2026
